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Judge Throws out Infanticide Case at Request of Clinton Lawyer Mark Geragos

By Peter J. Smith

LOS ANGELES, June 13, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Los Angeles judge threw out infanticide charges in a case against a USC student who dumped her newborn son into a dumpster a mere 42 second drive away from a “safe-surrender” station that could have saved her son’s life.

Holly Ashcraft, a 22-year-old architecture major at the University of Southern California (USC) has stood trial since her arrest in October 2005 after DNA evidence proved the newborn’s body, found by a homeless man sifting through trash behind the 29th Street Café, was her own son.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Samuel Mayerson had tentatively denied a request by Ashcraft’s attorney Mark Geragos yesterday to dismiss the murder charge, but then dismissed the charges Tuesday. Mayerson concurred with the March decision of Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Wesley that the evidence supported only the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter against Ashcraft.

Mayerson said prosecutors could no longer try Ashcraft since charges in the case had been dismissed twice—first murder, and then involuntary manslaughter—the limit under state law.

Geragos, who has represented convicted friends and associates of former President Bill Clinton, as well as the infamous Scott Peterson, among others, celebrated the ruling with Ashcraft and her family.

However Deputy District Attorney Franco Barrata disputed Mayerson’s reasoning, saying the two charges were different and allowable under the law. Barrata has indicated he may soon file a writ of appeal to the Appellate Court to get the trial back on track.

Baratta’s prosecution team cited evidence from the coroner showing Ashcraft had given birth to a live infant, not a stillborn child as she had claimed. Deputy medical examiner David B. Whiteman gave expert testimony saying the baby’s lungs were partially inflated, a tell-tale sign he was born alive.

Geragos on the other hand brought in two medical experts from USC's Keck School of Medicine to dispute the coroner’s final autopsy report. They described the murder charges as "a miscarriage of justice" against Ashcraft.

This is the second time that Ashcraft has been under investigation for the death of a newborn infant. Police first investigated her in April 2004, after she arrived bleeding at a downtown hospital and doctors determined she had given birth. Ashcraft also claimed then that baby was stillborn, but its body was never found, depriving police of evidence to arrest and charge her with a crime.

California has a “Safe Surrender” law that allows parents to deliver unwanted babies anonymously and without penalty to prepared institutions such as hospitals and fire stations. The law says that if a newborn is left anywhere other than a Safe Surrender site then the parent is subject to criminal prosecution.

According to the site, Independent Sources, Ashcraft’s second deceased baby was found a mere 42 second drive away from Fire Station No. 15 according to Google Maps. Police said the baby was found dead still attached to his umbilical cord. (http://independentsources.com/2005/10/16/holly-ashcraft)

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